Ever wondered how mastering customer education can lead to skyrocketing revenue? Listen in as we sit down with Greg Rose of Intellum, who takes us on his extraordinary journey from running a record label to pioneering the field of customer education. You'll learn the magic of Education Qualified Leads (EQLs) and how they can turbocharge your conversion rates. Greg also shares invaluable leadership gems from his memorable Pulse talk, "Everything I Learned About Leadership I Learned from Fred Rogers and My Dad," blending personal anecdotes with professional wisdom.
We also talk about:
- 00:00 - Driving revenue through education
- 02:26 - Music and customer education
- 06:59 - Leadership lessons from Fred Rogers
- 07:59 - Brain science in sales
- 11:05 - The problem with sales handoffs
- 17:42 - Balancing micro-learning and mastery
- 19:08 - Two pillars of education strategy
- 27:18 - Challenges in measuring ROI
- 30:13 - Forrester’s findings on customer education
- 32:35 - The importance of strategic planning
- 36:59 - Defining an education qualified lead
- 40:10 - Impact of the pandemic on education
- 44:11 - Strategies for measuring impact
- 46:17 - Building relationships for data access
- 47:16 - Benefits of education moving to marketing
- 49:02 - Avoiding mistakes in education strategy
- 50:56 - The importance of reach and frequency
Enjoy! I know I sure did...
Shoutouts:
- Andrew DeBell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewdebell/
- Jay Nathan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaynathan/
- Dee Kapila: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deekapila/
Books:
- Creative Act by Rick Rubin: https://amzn.to/3WvCDBL
- Leadership Revolution by Lori Hazan: https://amzn.to/4bS2zvR
+++++++++++++++++
This episode was edited and sponsored by Lifetime Value Media, a media production company founded by my good friend and fellow CS veteran Dillon Young. Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs of CS and Post-Sales professionals. Lifetime Value is offering select services at a deeply discounted rate for a limited time. Navigate to lifetimevaluemedia.com to learn more.
+++++++++++++++++
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
This week, we are pleased to bring you a conversation with Rod Cherkas, a SaaS veteran, consultant, author of two books on customer success, and vocal contributor to the CS community.
Rod and Alex discuss his past at Marketo and Gainsight (among others), his newly released book REACH, as well as where he sees the CS profession heading.
Chapters:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:18 - Rod’s Background and Path to CS
00:02:42 - Journey from Product to Customer Focus
00:03:45 - Intuit’s Customer-Centric Approach
00:04:27 - Applying Experience Design Principles
00:05:02 - Hello CCO
00:07:00 - Developing Executive-Level Skills
00:09:08 - Practical Impact of REACH Framework
00:10:29 - Importance of Marketing Playbooks
00:11:16 - Commercial Focus in CS Teams
00:13:03 - Learning from Digital Marketing
00:15:45 - Embracing Digital and AI in CS
00:16:15 - Prioritizing Accounts with Growth Potential
Enjoy! I know I sure did...
Rod's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodcherkas/
Rod's Website: https://hellocco.com
Rod's Books:
- CCO Playbook: https://amzn.to/3y44XBS
- REACH: https://amzn.to/3Wn5wAm
+++++++++++++++++
This episode was edited and sponsored by Lifetime Value Media, a media production company founded by my good friend and fellow CS veteran Dillon Young. Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs of CS and Post-Sales professionals. Lifetime Value is offering select services at a deeply discounted rate for a limited time. Navigate to lifetimevaluemedia.com to learn more.
+++++++++++++++++
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
In this solo episode, we tackle two primary topics:
- Imposter Syndrome specific to Digital CS and how to combat it
- Building Customer Health Scores without the benefit of product Telemetry
Along the way, I also share a few news items and resources with you.
Enjoy! I know I sure did...
Resources:
- Virtual Scale & Digital Meetup Survey Link
- Latest Digital CX Articles
- Everyday AI
- DCS Connect Slack Community
- Digital Customer Success book
- Health Scores without Telemetry post
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
Eric Mistry (Strategy & Shared Services Operations Manager at Contentsquare) has a very unique background and set of skills in education that afford him a fascinating perspective on the customer experience. Eric joins Alex to discuss the evolving use of AI in the workplace, the importance of connecting cross-functional dots, and the future of customer education and digital customer success.
Topics in this Episode:
- 03:00 - From swim coach to software
- 05:19 - Higher education and academic technologist
- 06:59 - Joining Heap and instructional design
- 10:26 - Connecting the dots in scaling functions
- 12:26 - Data management during mergers
- 15:15 - Adapting with a growth mindset
- 19:49 - Practical use of AI in the workplace
- 31:45 - Future of customer education and AI
- 39:54 - Enhancing automation with AI
Enjoy! I know I sure did...
Eric's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericmistry/
Resources:
- Meco App for collating newsletters
- Tim Ferriss Show
- Range by David Epstein
- Million Dollar Weekend by Noah Kagan
- Imaginable by Jane McGonigal
- Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Shoutouts:
- Joe Ryan (Customer Education Weekly)
- Shannon Howard
+++++++++++++++++
This episode was edited and sponsored by Lifetime Value Media, a media production company founded by my good friend and fellow CS veteran Dillon Young. Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs of CS and Post-Sales professionals. Lifetime Value is offering select services at a deeply discounted rate for a limited time. Navigate to lifetimevaluemedia.com to learn more.
+++++++++++++++++
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
Aaron Thompson (Chief Revenue Officer of SuccessCOACHING and Founder of Red Slacks) has dedicated his professional life to helping companies and CS professionals. He and Alex delve into the importance of leveraging digital technologies and data to enhance customer experience, and explore the benefits of transitioning from high touch to tech touch interactions.
Topics:
- 02:40 - The origin of the Red Slacks
- 07:44 - Aaron’s journey into customer success
- 12:28 - Importance of hospitality experience in CS
- 17:14 - Digital customer experience definition
- 19:33 - Leveraging data in digital strategies
- 26:50 - Rethinking the traditional QBR
- 34:37 - B2B learns from direct-to-consumer strategies
- 36:34 - Effective tools in digital CS
- 40:20 - The missing piece in customer success platforms
Enjoy! I know I sure did...
Aaron's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/athomps/
Red Slacks: https://redslacks.com/
SuccessCOACHING: https://successcoaching.co/
Resources:
- 4Rocks by Sean Albertson
- Revenue Operations by Stephen Diorio and Chris Hummel
Shoutouts:
- Simon Kriss: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonkriss/
- Percy Rose: https://www.linkedin.com/in/percyrose/
- Mickey Powell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickeypowell/
+++++++++++++++++
This episode was edited by Lifetime Value Media, a media production company founded by my good friend and fellow CS veteran Dillon Young. Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs of CS and Post-Sales professionals. Lifetime Value is offering select services at a deeply discounted rate for a limited time. Navigate to lifetimevaluemedia.com to learn more.
+++++++++++++++++
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
Preetam Jinka and Arun Balakrishnan, co-founders of FunnelStory, join the podcast to discuss how we’re just scratching the surface with AI and machine learning. They chat with Alex about how FunnelStory is revolutionizing customer success strategies, enabling teams to predict churn, optimize user engagement, and drive revenue growth through data-driven insights.
Additionally, Arun & Preetam share their own insights on A.I. and how Product teams best work with Customer Success.
Chapters:
04:35 - Arun's background in cybersecurity and product managemen
05:25 - How Preetam got started in AI and data engineering
14:00 - The difference between AI and machine learning
18:10 - Some practical applications of AI in customer success
21:14 - An overview of the FunnelStory platform
24:26 - Predictive and prescriptive elements
27:46 - Product telemetry and customer insights
30:26 - Collaboration between product and customer success teams
33:11 - Innovative uses of predictive analytics in customer engagement
38:19 - Discovering hidden metrics through data analysis
39:16 - Leveraging AI and ML for pattern recognition in CS
Enjoy! I know I sure did...
Preetam's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/preetamjinka/
Arun's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/balakrishnanarun/
FunnelStory: https://funnelstory.ai/
+++++++++++++++++
This episode was edited by Lifetime Value Media, a media production company founded by my good friend and fellow CS veteran Dillon Young. Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs of CS and Post-Sales professionals. Lifetime Value is offering select services at a deeply discounted rate for a limited time. Navigate to lifetimevaluemedia.com to learn more.
+++++++++++++++++
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
Jay Nathan is the co-founder of GrowthCurve.io, Chief Customer Officer at Churnkey, and one of the most respected voices in the customer success community. He joins Alex as they explore Jay’s early career as a software engineer, the integration of AI with other digital tools, and navigating the economic landscape of SaaS.
Chapters:
- 00:02:28 - Introducing Jay Nathan
- 00:04:44 - A background in software engineering & web development
- 00:08:52 - Institutionalizing customer centricity
- 00:11:05 - Creating a great culture for employees
- 00:13:19 - Customer success and organizational capability
- 00:15:22 - Validating usability through customer interviews
- 00:17:26 - The ABCAI methodology
- 00:19:34 - Driving outcomes with digital
- 00:21:43 - AI in the customer success world
- 00:23:49 - Tailoring technologies for different team structures
- 00:25:54 - The changing economics of SaaS
- 00:30:13 - Human-to-human connections
- 00:32:32 - Managing the customer life cycle
- 00:34:37 - The intersection of company culture and ROI
- 00:36:40 - Automating the business development function
- 00:38:41 - Engaging with customers using marketing tricks
00:40:40 - Shout outs
Enjoy! I know I sure did...
20% off of the Cover Your SaaS course: https://growthcurve.io/products/coveryoursaas?promo=dcs
Jay's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaynathan/
+++++++++++++++++
This episode was edited by Lifetime Value Media, a media production company founded by my good friend and fellow CS veteran Dillon Young. Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs of CS and Post-Sales professionals. Lifetime Value is offering select services at a deeply discounted rate for a limited time. Navigate to lifetimevaluemedia.com to learn more.
+++++++++++++++++
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
In this, my second solo episode - I wanted to spend some time trying to demystify Generative AI for CSMs and CS leaders alike. According to statistics, only 25% of CS workers utilize AI in the workplace on a regular basis, which I think is WAY too low - especially considering how stretched thin most CSMs really are.
So - in this episode, we focus on proper prompting, a few tools that exist out there and a plethora of use-cases for you to dig into:
0:00:00 - Introduction
0:03:55 - Topic introduction. Why GenAI for CSMs
0:08:42 - Why prompting is a fundamental skill to have
0:09:36 - Using the RISEN framework for prompting
0:11:31 - Taking care with proprietary and sensitive information when using Gen AI
0:19:58 - Why it’s a bad idea to just copy and send, without proofreading and personalizing
0:23:01 - Utilizing ChatGPTs memory feature to prevent having to copy/paste your prompts
0:23:55 - Teaching ChatGPT on my tone of voice
0:26:19 - Chaining prompts
0:27:55 - Integrating this into your daily workflow
0:30:21 - ChatGPT vs. Perplexity vs. Google
0:32:42 - Perplexity research use cases for CSMs
0:36:30 - The proliferation of new tools
0:37:19 - AgentCopilot & HeyGen create personalized video for your contacts at scale
0:39:45 - Ariglad analyzes support tickets to create and update knowledge base articles
0:40:48 - Malik automates the creation of decks using your data and insights
0:41:55 - Outro
One link discussed in the show is the DCS Tech Stack on the website: https://digitalcustomersuccess.com/tech-stack/
Enjoy!
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
Josh Schachter is the Founder and CEO of UpdateAI, the conversation intelligence tool built specifically for the customer success profession. He sits down with Alex to talk product management, the unorthodox genesis of UpdateAI, and, of course, artificial intelligence itself.
- 00:00 - Introduction
- 02:50 - Josh's background in product management
- 05:17 - Joining Idea Lab and finding inspiration
- 07:52 - How UpdateAI got its name
- 10:25 - A different perspective as a product manager
- 13:02 - Commercialization and expansion of a product
- 15:51 - The value of customer insights
- 18:24 - Snackable & actionable insights for different stakeholders
- 23:17 - The future of artificial intelligence in the industry
- 28:50 - Human interaction in digital
- 31:37 - Robots on the front line in technical support
- 34:27 - The power of Chat GPT as a CSM
- 37:04 - Future plans for UpdateAI
- 39:41 - Shoutouts
- Kristi Faltorusso
- Jon Johnson
+++++++++++++++++
This episode was edited by Lifetime Value Media, a media production company founded by my good friend and fellow CS veteran Dillon Young. Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs of CS and Post-Sales professionals. Lifetime Value is offering select services at a deeply discounted rate for a limited time. Navigate to lifetimevaluemedia.com to learn more.
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
Matik's Scale + CS Virtual Conference: https://bit.ly/scalecs-aturkovic
In this special edition, Alex sits down with Stijn "Stino" Smet, Head of Customer Success at Whale.io, the host of *two* customer success podcasts, and all-around loose cannon. He joins Alex (in his studio!) for a very special joint episode of their podcasts to discuss career journeys, getting started with a digital practice, and more.
The “more”:
00:00 - Where to start with digital
03:35 - Your First Digital CS Experience
07:12 - The Core of a True Digital Team
10:44 - Meeting an “Idol”
14:15 - Transitioning to Digital Customer Experience
18:03 - Quick Wins in Digital CS
21:28 - Being Ahead of the Curve with Digital Customer Success
25:11 - Stino’s Famous Playbook
28:38 - Achieving Revenue Growth
32:14 - “Light” Success Services
35:40 - Creating and Tracking Campaign Metrics
39:04 - Reviewing and Iterating on Strategies
42:36 - The Sweet Spot
49:48 - Laser beams and confetti
53:40 - Shout Outs
Enjoy! I know I sure did...
Stino's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stijn-smet-%F0%9F%90%B3-330435a9/
Shoutouts:
- Kristi Faltorusso: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristiserrano/
- Erika Villareal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erivillarreal/
- Anika Zubair: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anikazubair/
- Diana de Jesus: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianadejesus/
- Dillon Young: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dillonryoung/
- Prashanth Jothi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prashanthjothi/
+++++++++++++++++
This episode was edited by Lifetime Value Media, a media production company founded by my good friend and fellow CS veteran Dillon Young. Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs of CS and Post-Sales professionals. Lifetime Value is offering select services at a deeply discounted rate for a limited time. Navigate to lifetimevaluemedia.com to learn more.
+++++++++++++++++
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
Link to Matik's Scale + CS Virtual Conference: https://bit.ly/scalecs-aturkovic.
Today, I'm joined by Jeff Heckler - a CS veteran with a lot of wisdom to share around the state of the industry, the AI tools with the most promise, and Slack overwhelm.
In this episode, we cover a wide variety of topics, including:
- 00:00:00 - Welcome To The Digital Customer Experience Podcast
- 00:01:31 - Join The Matik Conference, Earn A $20 Uber Eats Gift Card Giveaway
- 00:02:56 - Introduction
- 00:04:21 - Leaving Business Intelligence & Falling Into Software
- 00:10:17 - Digital Customer Success Since Covid-19
- 00:11:43 - The Rise Of QR Code
- 00:13:19 - Contraction In Headcounts And Budgets
- 00:14:51 - The Economics Of AI And Tech’s Current Struggles In Today’s Economy
- 00:16:26 - The Most Prominent Digital Trends In CS
- 00:19:36 - Leveraging Ai Chat Bots For Support Ticket Deflection, Among Other Things
- 00:20:58 - Communication Overload And Digital Emotions
- 00:22:29 - Optimizing Digital Workflows And Tools
- 00:23:58 - The Stickiness Of Tools
- 00:25:34 - Learning From Mistakes And Cross-Functional Allegiances
- 00:27:05 - Setting Up A Cadence For Product Sales Marketing Support
- 00:28:20 - Shifting Mindset For Customer Success Managers
- 00:29:36 - The Importance Of Cross Collaboration
- 00:31:01 - Shout Out To Dickey Singh And Cast.App
Enjoy! I know I sure did...
Jeff's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffheckler/
Shoutouts:
- Irit Eizips: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eizips/
- Dickey Singh of Cast.app: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dickey/
+++++++++++++++++
This episode was edited by Lifetime Value Media, a media production company founded by my good friend and fellow CS veteran Dillon Young. Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs of CS and Post-Sales professionals. Lifetime Value is offering select services at a deeply discounted rate for a limited time. Navigate to lifetimevaluemedia.com to learn more.
+++++++++++++++++
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
Jenelle Friday of Forecastable and the Customer Success Collective’s “CS Leader of the Year” for 2023 is someone who is easily liked. She's hyper-in tune with what makes people tick, and is even the author of her own framework on emotional intelligence in customer success.
In this wonderful chat, we talk about:
00:00 - Caring for your customers
02:27 - Being Authentic in Customer Success
04:41 - A Journey to Customer Success and Emotional Intelligence
06:53 - The Importance of Being Human in Business Relationships
09:11 - Being True to Yourself in Business
11:19 - Acknowledging Fears and Embracing Imperfection
13:29 - Emotional Intelligence and Self-Awareness in Customer Success
15:37 - The Importance of Work in Relationships
17:42 - The Importance of Human Interaction
20:11 - Elevator Pitch for Digital Customer Success
22:25 - The Importance of Emotional Intelligence in Digital Communications
24:39 - Using Emotional Intelligence for Customer Engagement
26:47 - The Importance of Social Awareness in Decision-Making Process
29:06 - Cultural Differences in Customer Success
31:21 - Building a Customer Community
33:33 - Coordinating Communication Across Departments
35:42 - Understanding the Customer Perspective
38:01 - Living Boldly and Courageously
40:26 - Developing Soft Skills in Business
42:27 - Fostering Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace
44:51 - The Importance of Emotional Intelligence in Digital Customer Success
46:54 - Book Recommendations and Finding Normalcy
49:04 - Soft Skill Development and Giving Back to the Community
Enjoy! I know I sure did...
+++++++++++++++++
This episode was edited by Lifetime Value Media, a media production company founded by my good friend and fellow CS veteran Dillon Young. Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs of CS and Post-Sales professionals. Lifetime Value is offering select services at a deeply discounted rate for a limited time. Navigate to lifetimevaluemedia.com to learn more.
+++++++++++++++++
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
As we pop the champagne on our 50th show, a heartfelt thank you is in order for every listener & guest who's joined me on this wild ride through the evolving world of digital customer interactions. It's a transformational moment for the show as we shift from focusing on 'Digital Customer Success' to encompassing the broader 'Digital Customer Experience', ensuring we capture the essence of every digital touchpoint. As such, we are changing the name of the show to 'The Digital Customer Experience Podcast'!
In this episode, I'm going through and answering some of the most frequently asked questions that I get on a regular basis, which leads to the following topics:
- 00:47 - New Podcast Name Announcement
- 06:34 - What is Digital Customer Success
- 07:38 - Digital vs. Scaled
- 09:49 - Where to start with Digital Customer Success
- 11:52 - Commonly overlooked vehicles for digital motions
- 13:13 - Building health scores without product telemetry
- 14:31 - Identifying user personas based on their activity within your resource
- 15:05 - SaaS economics and how they impact the proliferation of digital
- 18:43 - Measuring the success of digital CS
- 21:54 - Team structure for digital cs
- 26:54 - Technology recommendations
- 30:45 - Outro & Thank you!
A couple of links from the show:
- Website & Newsletter signup: https://digitalcustomersuccess.com
- Digital CS Definition Word Map: https://digitalcustomersuccess.com/digital-cs-word-map/
- DCS Tech Stack: https://digitalcustomersuccess.com/tech-stack/
- Cover Your SaaS Course by Jeff Bruensbach & Jay Nathan: https://growthcurve.io/cover-your-saas
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
Kari Ardalan of Qualtrics is a staple in the CS community and has been leading scaled motions for YEARS - which is sometime that not a lot of people can say. She also sits on Gainsight's Digital Advisory Board - so yeah, she's qualified to talk about this stuff. :-)
In this fantastic conversation, we talk about:
- Building digital first with humans coming in off of the back of those motions
- The evolution of ‘scaled’ from just email and outbound events to a push to come inbound
- Building one place portal where customers can go for everything and where CSMs can interact with their customers
- How Digital is structured at Qualtrics across various departments
- Internal cross-collaboration on digital motions
- What to look out for in a digital leader - specifically cross-collaboration and a varied background
- Focusing on Support deflection metrics and areas to automate
- Other interesting metrics in use at Qualtrics: % CTAs launched, penetration rate of closed success CTAs (conversation), Monthly Active Users, Monthly Active Customers, Flow Completion, % of Renewals Not Assisted by Humans
- Balancing being tactical and strategic as a leader
- Using special interests among the team to drive career growth and creativity - including Hackathons
- Cool examples of digital motions including customer-facing scorecards, micro-learning, AI and self-serve portals.
- AI bot & recommendation engine implementation at Qualtrics
- Letting data tell you who the customer personas are
- The dependency on operations work streams to get things done
Enjoy! I sure did...
Kari's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kariardalan/
Link to Kari's post about the qualities of a Digital CS Leader: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kariardalan_digitalsuccess-leadership-recruitment-activity-7175101395631570944-qujn?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
Shoutouts:
- Delores Cooper (Zendesk): https://www.linkedin.com/in/delorescooper/
- Austin Kwon (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/austinkwon/
- Kelly Bray (MongoDB): https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-bray-1684166/
- Rimple Patel (Eightfold): https://www.linkedin.com/
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
Christine Raby, Founder of DeliverDelight, brings the heat in this episode where we cover off a very wide range of topics - some CS related and some non-CS related. Christine's background is absolutely fascinating and I've been a fan of her presence both on LinkedIn and TikTok for quite some time now.
This episode is full of practical examples and advice for both ICs and leaders alike as we talked about:
- How CS is now experiencing similar maturation to what marketing experienced a decade+ ago
- Leaders need to be super focused on the benchmarks and metrics vs. how they ‘feel’ things are going
- The opinions of whether CS should own revenue or not is completely irrelevant as the goals are similar, the team should be united and therefore measured (and compensated) on the same/or similar metrics
- Hyper-personalization together with client success stories is a powerful combination for New Logos and expansion alike (N&E)
- Test your "ways of working" in an unscalable manner first and then figure out how to automate & scale it up
- AI is a tool - not a replacement for you role - it needs to be leveraged in order to help you get out of reactive mode and into proactively growing your account
- Current state of startup economics and how that relates to Customer Success within these businesses
- The trend towards de-centralizing CS into a strategy instead of just an org
- Taking lessons from B2C
- Transitioning PS from a cost center to a revenue center
- Equality and Equity in the workplace
Like I said, a wide variety of topics. Enjoy! I know I sure did...
Christine's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christineraby/
DeliverDelight: https://www.deliverdelight.xyz/
Shoutouts:
- Sara Roberts (Bayview Talent): https://www.linkedin.com/in/saralynneroberts/
- Jess Osborne (GoCardless): https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicareserosborn/
- Diana De Jesus (The Customer Success Project): https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianadejesus/
- How to Break Into Tech: https://howtobreakintotech.com/
- by Charlotte Chaze: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlottechaze/
+++++++++++++++++
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
Irit Eizips has been in and around CS for a long time. From being in on the ground floor at Gainsight to running her very successful consultancy, she has been a staple in the CS community and consistently produces fantastic content that we all benefit from!
In this episode, we get into:
- Irit’s days at the early-stage Gainsight and the culture of startups
- Her home in consulting (CSM Practice) vs. being a full time employee
- Being part of CS from the ground floor
- The advancement of CS to where certification and degree programs have enabled college grads an entry into the field
- Digital motions should support the work of humans in CS
- Implementing too much digital without touchpoints along the way can actually have negative customer implications
- Identifying risk in customers who are disengaging with digital programs
- Over-use of email via redundancy and simultaneous emails from multiple organizations
- The use of avatars in digital for communications to make things more fun when appropriate
- Protecting revenue and expansion via process automations to flag risk early before renewal and even close it early
- A few examples of great digital motions and practical advice around designing them
- Designing digital-first motions with client outcomes & a customer journey front and center
Loads of great info in this one. Enjoy! I know I sure did...
Irit's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eizips/
CSM Practice: https://www.csmpractice.com/
CSM Practice YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/CSMPractice
Resources:
- Seven Pillars of Customer Success by Wayne McCulloch: https://amzn.to/3TLXYog
- CCO Playbook by Rod Cherkas: https://amzn.to/3TLXYog
- Onboarding Matters by Donna Webber: https://amzn.to/3TRk9cu
Shoutout:
- Yair Bortinger: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yair-bortinger/
- Yair's episode on CSM Practice Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pwj634-qu0
+++++++++++++++++
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
Maarten & Michiel Doornenbal are not only brothers, but also co-founders of Churned! They join me this week for a fantastic conversation about the platform they've built, AI, scorecards and more!
Unfortunately, my audio/video didn't record - so you'll here me narrating the episode - but it's kind of fun to switch formats up here an there.
In the episode, we talk about:
- Their history as brothers and how they work together as co-founders today
- History of Churned and what they do
- Using machine learning models instead of rules-based scorecards to create health scoring and to predict customer churn
- Part of the role of a CSP is to highlight were data cleanliness issues exist
- Verifying your churn risk alerts by back-testing the data against historical churned customers
- Personalization based on user-personas
- AI is not just Gen AI. The future of AI in CS combines predictive, descriptive and generative models to auto generate content to free up time for CSMs.
- What the human involvement will look like with these future AI models
Enjoy! I know I sure did!
Maarten's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maartendoornenbal/
Michiel's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michiel-doornenbal-98710067/
Churned: https://churned.io
Resources Mentioned:
- The Big Exit Show Podcast: https://peak.capital/the-big-exit-show-podcast/
- Customer Success Snack Community: https://customersuccesssnack.com/
- Customer Success Connect: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cs-connect/
- Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell: https://amzn.to/3VN2cP7
- Scaling Up Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/394xlIBALeAPMEeq1EvJPt
++++++++++++++++++
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
Invariably, when you speak to someone in CS about Rob Zambito, the first comment that almost always comes back is, "He's a good guy". ...and I couldn't agree more.
I wouldn't say that I've known Rob for a very long - but the time we've spent both on Zoom and in-person has always been extremely high-quality, funny, impactful, personal and full of great questions.
This is the same approach Rob takes with all of his clients at Success Scaled, where he advises seed to B-series companies on CS strategies. He asks A LOT of questions and puts together a good picture of current-state before digging into solutioning.
This is also what makes him a phenomenal guest for this episode of the show because he has seen A LOT of stuff work - and a lot of stuff not work!
In this episode, we talk about:
- How his background in ‘consumer psychology’ has helped him in his CS ventures
- The parallels between the hospitality/service industry and being a CSM
- Using the ‘lunch break test’ to help identify what should and can be automated
- CS teams, if structured correctly can and should be catch-all
- CSMs should know about any interaction their customers have with the company - tickets, ideas submissions, community events, course completions, etc.
- Part of the digital remit should be focused on providing CSMs with easy access to customer data & telemetry for use in engaging their accounts
- Onboarding is an amazing first place to focus on digitizing as it is the most formative stage of the journey
- Rob’s approach to providing guidance and feedback to his clients in a productive manner
- Successful onboarding will have customers ready to expand immediately
- Approach your daily routine from the standpoint of scaling and making your everyday more efficient
- Don’t wait for leadership to design your own efficiencies as an IC
- Setting aside an hour per day to hone in on work that is meaningful to you
- Incorporate celebration into your digital flows
- Leveraging user data to really figure out the opportunities that exist within a customer
- Set the right expectations early when implementing digital motions
- Don’t build a community until it starts to build itself. Communities can swing wildly between ‘crickets’ and ‘group think’, so building them must be done so cautiously
Rob's LinkedIn
Podcasts:
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
Not only does Delores Cooper of Zendesk have a pretty amazing back story, she's also doing some pretty amazing things with a small and scrappy team at Zendesk. Short form video has become an increasingly popular medium for distribution of content and Zendesk is utilizing this as part of their digital enablement strategy.
In this conversation, we talk about:
- Delores' entry into tech from social work & psychology
- Timing of digital motions along the customer journey
- Dealing with variables such as industry-specific differences
- Team structure at Zendesk to support digital & scaled program
- Getting scrappy with resources and cross-functional departments to help build the program
- Short-form content as part of the ‘Success on Zendesk’ program
- Using data to determine what content to produce
- Distribution model for video-based learning
- Taking learnings from B2C on how to interject more human language into B2B
Delores' LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/delorescooper/
DCS Connect Community: https://airtable.com/appLGhZyujOoYp8BQ/shr4ixoZmB8hBoLbM
Shoutouts:
- Grace Maxon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-lofgren-maxon-a98049156/
- Cooper Roe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cooper-roe/
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
Nik Mijic, co-founder of Matik comes to us this week with not only a fascinating back-story, but some great CS-related content as we discuss a wide variety of very timely and important topics.
In this episode, we talk about:
- How Matik automates the creation of content with personalized data, primarily for CS and Sales
- The current state of the ‘digital business review’
- A good understanding of your data is needed for a quality DBR
- Sending out one-pagers based on usage milestones or monthly project status updates - automagically
- A lot of people are scared of negative data, but using it to highlight customer improvement opportunities is key
- The importance of benchmarking cohorts of customers to help them grow and act on the adoption of the product
- Keeping a library of common customer objectives and content/measurements to help them along that path
- Moving beyond rules-based automations in favor of GenAI improvements of the inputs that would normally feed your automations to make them even better.
- Savvy sales teams are taking post-sale data and aggregating business value cases out of it to help set expectations
- Nobody’s data is perfect - don’t let that keep you from getting something in place
- Feedback loops are very important in Digital CS to make sure you are constantly monitoring what is working and what is not working
- The Kirkpatrick model, typically used in L&D can also be used in other ways to measure the short and long term efficacy of your programs and content
Enjoy! I know I sure did...
Nik's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikola-mijic-9012201b/
Matik: https://www.matik.io/
+++++++++++++++++
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
In this fascinating conversation we talk about:
- Her journey into customer education at Pendo
- The approach to dealing with a new set of circumstances or ambiguity
- Interplay at Pendo between digital plays and educational offerings
- Driving prescriptive outcomes in customers’ journeys, especially when there are many potential outcomes
- Identifying users' roles in-product to make sure content is curated for the right audience
- 1:1 Office Hours - assess, unblock & get out. Customers have availability via a calendar to a resource if they are stuck
- Start with where you are, what problems you’re trying to solve and what is your inventory of existing resources
- Facilitate the happy path digitally and using your humans to intervene when they stray
- Using the resources around you and partnering with other teams to fill in the gaps that you have around subject matter expertise, content creation, etc.
- Prioritizing content creation based on product roadmap, customer impact of a product change
- Instructional designers are underusing heroes in SaaS
- Brand & design standards - when to adhere to them strictly or not
Erica's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/esakroyd/
Shoutout: Daphne Costa Lopes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daphnecostalopes/
++++++++++++++++++
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
Lane Hart of Contentsquare brings to CS a no nonesense approach to ensuring the renewal via strong data analysis combined with a very human approach of customer engagement. He has taken lessons learned from his years in management consulting at IBM forward into a rocketship trajectory in CS at Heap - now Contentsquare.
Be sure to grab a pen and paper for this one as we talk about:
- Scaling the Heap CS team and starting a CS Ops function
- The importance of knowing what Data is available and how it all correlates to drive customer outcomes
- Advice: Don’t get stuck because the data is not perfect
- Use data in change management by ‘showing your work’ and telling a story of how you got there.
- Service recovery philosophy: So much of CS is gracefully falling on our sword - and owning up to that can lead to some incredibly real and human moments.
- Effective interventions on negative sentiment customers can turn these situations into extremely healthy relationships
- Contact-level data is so often in very poor shape, not just in formatting but also in whether that contact is still at the company or what role they have
- Implementing in-app prompts for new users for them to self-identify what role they play
- Using bounced emails to adjust customer contact data - flagging contacts that have left - then reaching out to company to get updated contacts via active users
- Surveys are annoying and you have to be very careful not to bombard people
- Standardizing metrics, both product and commercial, across departments and then putting them front and center in front of the whole company to drive alignment
- Tracking champions after they leave a company - they can be incredibly valuable CSQLs to land new accounts with minimal effort
Lane's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lanehart/
Resources:
- Lenny's Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/
- Scaling People: https://amzn.to/3wDVfVH
- Nudge: https://amzn.to/3wDVfVH
- App: OmniFocus: https://www.omnigroup.com/omnifocus/
Shoutouts:
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
Dickey Singh, CEO of Cast joins us this week for a bonus episode in which we discover his fascinating journey from a long line of engineering leadership roles to today, where he's leading the charge of AI in CS.
We discuss at length what he and his team at Cast.app are doing to help revolutionize digital CS and what the future of all of this technology looks like.
Topics covered include:
- Dickey’s long history with AI and his journey from an engineering background into serving customer success today
- He was ‘there’ at the inception of Customer Success
- How Cast.app helps its customers achieve 30x ROI via providing digital CS
- 1:Many vs. 1:1 vs. Many:Many in Digital CS
- Getting persona-specific in your outreach, but don’t go by titles and go by responsibilities, interests and user profiles
- Digital provides efficiency and automation to drive efficiency for CSMs
- Executive personas are likely not going to be in the app and a lot of C-level execs prefer text messages
- SMS is a powerful way to reach certain personas and shouldn’t be as frowned upon as it is
- The tendency for AI to hallucinate and how it needs to be verified by the human
- Current and future state of AI in CS and how adopters stand to gain massive efficiencies. More and more useful AI tools are coming.
- Prompting won’t be as relevant in the future as it currently is
Enjoy! I know I sure did...
Dickey's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dickey/
Cast: https://cast.app/
Pure Storage ROI with Cast: https://cast.app/purestorage-roi
++++++++++++++++++
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
James Lawson of River Consultancy Group joins us this week in a fun conversation that spans a wide range of topics including a growing sentiment among CS leaders that contributions to the customer journey should be cross collaborative in nature.
James is the founder of River Consultancy Group and currently serves as CCO at key Computer Applications Ltd. It is this along with his long history in CS that have shaped his unique and healthy outlook on CS and how CSMs specifically can best position themselves in the future.
In this episode, we cover topics including:
- Why CS is so prevalent in software and not as much elsewhere
- Customer success as a company-wide capability, not just CS function
- Internal collaboration around customer journey actions
- Providing value at scale with the illusion of it being personal
- Making sure we don’t forget to celebrate the success of our users and various personas
- CSMs who have strong consultative skills will have the edge in the future
- Storytelling on the back of data points is where humans excel and this can be supported by digital
- Personalizing digital engagement by asking personas about their engagement preferences
- The importance of having your product and digital motions lead with simplicity
- Continually tweaking your ICP using internal and external indicators - especially among your smaller customers that are scaling, vs the largest customers.
Enjoy! I know I sure did...
James' LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jlaw-customersuccess/
River Consultancy Group: https://www.riverconsultancygroup.co.uk/
Resources:
- The Daily Stoic: https://dailystoic.com/
- Deep Work: https://amzn.to/3SHZaby
Shoutouts:
- Mickey Powell (Episode 001): https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickeypowell/
- Markus Rentsch (Episode 026): https://www.linkedin.com/in/markus-rentsch-customer-value-led-growth-for-saas/
+++++++++++++++++
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
Today's discussion with Dee Kapila is a fascinating insight into the world of building innovative digital programs within a very well known and broadly used organization, Miro. As Global Head of Scaled Customer Experience, Dee leads both digital and customer education functions. Her talk last year at Pulse on having SLG & PLG work in harmony for the benefit of the customer journey was fascinating on completely on point!
Our conversation focused on:
- How digital CS is putting many functions and practices together to scale CX - not just CS.
- Digital CS in relation to other orgs in the company and ensuring you are building together with cross-collaborators
- Leveraging cross functional competencies to work together on securing the customer journey
- Focusing on quick wins to get something going quickly, while you focus on the big picture, future state activities
- "Product vs. Sales Led Growth? Embrace BOTH with Scaled CX": Cliff notes of Dee’s talk at Pulse last year
- Her scaled team structure and the importance of leaving room for variability when building these teams
- Scaled Customer Experience Team with three pillars: Scaled Education, Scaled Production & Digital Success with Scaled teams to support
- A peek at the digital tech stack + the custom in-house tooling built at Miro
- In-app guidance needs to be elegant and not overbearing or clunky.
Enjoy! I sure did...
Dee's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deekapila/
Dee's Talk at Pulse in 2023: https://pulselibrary.gainsight.com/video/product-vs-sales-led-growth-embrace-both-with-scaled-cx
Dee's Substack: https://deekapila.substack.com/
Shoutout:
- Sam David @ Monday.com
++++++++++++++++++
Lifetime Value Media
Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs.
+++++++++++++++++
Like/Subscribe/Review:
If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.
Website:
For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com.
Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:
This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcsp
Thank you for all of your support!
The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic
Customer Education for Revenue Growth with Greg Rose of Intellum | Episode 062
1:01:40
Future Proof Your Teams and Career with Rod Cherkas of HelloCCO | Episode 061
53:22
Digital Musings: Measuring Customer Health Without Telemetry and Combatting Imposter Syndrome | Episode 060
33:03
Transformative Digital Experiences through AI and Customer Education with Eric Mistry of Contentsquare | Episode 059
51:04
Hospitality, Drawing from B2C and Rethinking the QBR with Aaron Thompson of SuccessCOACHING | Episode 058
48:36
AI-Powered Customer Success & Predictive Analytics with Arun Balakrishnan and Preetam Jinka of FunnelStory | Episode 057
53:47
SaaS Economics & Driving Customer Outcomes Digitally with Jay Nathan | Episode 056
47:00
The Generative AI Primer for CSMs | Episode 055
47:13
AI Insights to Power Your Business with Josh Schachter of Update AI | Episode 054
45:51
"Your First" Digital Customer Success Motions with Stijn "Stino" Smet of Whale | Episode 053
1:01:17
State of the Industry and Promise of AI with Jeff Heckler | Episode 052
37:40
Emotional Intelligence in Digital and Treating Customers Like Humans with Jenelle Friday | Episode 051
54:36
Celebrating 50 Episodes: Your Digital Customer Experience Questions Answered | Episode 050
35:38
Customer Engagement with AI and Self-Service Strategies with Kari Ardalan of Qualtrics | Episode 049
43:34
The Impact of SaaS Economics on CS (Plus Much More!) with Christine Raby | Episode 048
1:01:43
Digital Advice from a CS OG and Innovator with Irit Eizips of CSM Practice | Episode 047
53:40
Sibling Synergy and Machine Learning in CS with Maarten and Michiel Doornenbal of Churned | Episode 046
43:06
Applying Common Sense to Digital Customer Experience with Rob Zambito of Success Scaled | Episode 045
58:41
Video Micro-Learning at Scale with Delores Cooper of Zendesk | Episode 044
41:05
The Power of Hyper-Personalized Content for Customer Success with Nik Mijic of Matik | Episode 043
40:02
Customer Education and The Digital Journey with Erica Akroyd of Pendo | Episode 042
47:22
Data Analysis and Service Recovery Philosophy with Lane Hart of Contentsquare | Episode 041
59:14
AI Driven Digital Customer Success in App Form w/ Dickey Singh of Cast.app | Episode 040
54:45
Cross Collaborating on the Customer Journey with James Lawson of River Consulting Group | Episode 039
55:30
Tearing Down PLG & SLG Walls in Digital CX with Dee Kapila of Miro | Episode 038
52:59